Judges will get a gun allowance of 1200 USD. What kind of gun are they buying?

[gearhead]

You can do the math and compute but isn't that a lot of money for a gun to protect themselves? Or do they buy several?


Judges get court financing to buy guns on installment Rey E. Requejo

THE Supreme Court has adopted a P10-million loan program that will allow at least 200 judges to buy guns for their protection.

It made the decision despite an agreement among the Supreme Court, Department of Justice, and National Bureau of Investigation last year that tasked the bureau to form a judiciary protection unit for judges and justices who have received threats.

In a four-page resolution, the high tribunal said borrower-magistrates could avail themselves of the “gun-purchase” program if they are not more than 67 years old; not under preventive suspension from office; have a minimum 30 days leave credits; have met the minimum P3,000 net take-home pay as required by the General Appropriations Act; and have at least three qualified co-makers.

In the guidelines recommended to the Court en banc by Deputy Court Administrator Reuben de la Cruz, an interest-free handgun loan amounting to P50,000 would be made available to judges on a three-year repayment period of 36 monthly installments.

For the P50,000, judges may choose to acquire a handgun, a pistol or a shotgun. The current market price for a .45-cal. pistol, which has seven bullets in a magazine, is around P30,000. The standard police-issue Beretta 92-F 9mm, with a 12- or 13-round magazine, sells for P45,000.

The cheapest shotgun in the market is a 12-gauge pump-action, five shot, pistol grip model at P13,300. A Remington model, which can load eight rounds and has a folding stock or gun butt, sells for P50,000.

At least one justice has admitted to owning a firearm for protection.

Under the loan terms, should the judge-borrower fail to render the required service obligation through his own fault, negligence, unsatisfactory or poor performance or other causes within his control, resulting in the non-payment of the full cost of the handgun, or should the judge-borrower resign or transfer to an agency or office, the entire unpaid balance will become due and must be paid.

The judge-borrower must pay the balance within 30 days from retirement, separation or removal from the service.

Fifteen magistrates have been killed since 1999. The latest was Calbayog City Regional Trial Court Judge Roberto Navidad, who was gunned down on Jan. 14.

The Philippines may be one of the first countries to authorize judges to carry weapons. The United States does not allow its judges and magistrates to carry weapons, concealed or otherwise.

Under the memorandum signed in February 2007, the NBI’s Task Force Judiciary Protection will “provide prompt and effective protection to judges and justices needing or requesting protection due to threats to their personal safety arising from judicial work,” and “investigate thoroughly without letup until final resolution all killings or attempted killings of judges and justices.”

The task force was also supposed to regularly inspect the Supreme Court compound, Court of Appeals, Court of Tax Appeals, Sandiganbayan and the different halls of justice.

Under the memorandum, the United States Agency for International Development was to provide technical assistance through the expertise of Joe Paonessa, a consultant of the United States Marshalls.

In 2005, the Supreme Court approved the guidelines that allowed court personnel to be detailed as security for judges.

The guidelines say judges who receive a threat may apply with the National Police for protective security.

If the request is denied, the judge may then ask the Supreme Court’s Security Committee to designate a member of the judge’s staff as an escort.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Gee. For $1200 they can buy a Romanian RPK (AK-47 copy) plus accessories and ammo.

[ghosthunter]

They might be looking at this baby...




inspired by:



hasta la vista, baby!

[mikey177]

For the P50,000, judges may choose to acquire a handgun, a pistol or a shotgun. The current market price for a .45-cal. pistol, which has seven bullets in a magazine, is around P30,000. The standard police-issue Beretta 92-F 9mm, with a 12- or 13-round magazine, sells for P45,000.

50,000 pesos, the current equivalent of 1,200 US dollars, is to me a reasonable amount for buying a gun that I would entrust my life to.

While it's true that you can buy some guns for less, such as Norincos and other brands, to me, the gun's reliability and durability would be important points to consider. I've seen enough stock 1911s frequently jam on the firing range to appreciate the reliability of my Glock --it absolutely does not jam, and this is what I look for in a defensive weapon.

The Glock sells for around 35 to 40,000 pesos these days. HKs and Walthers sell for more.

[v6dreamer]

How about the ".45 luger carbine" maybe that's what they been looking for. Price tag for this handgun...$ 1,000,000.

[Memphis Raines]

.................................................. .........:gun:

[[archie]]

if the said SRP is true for the guns then parang tama lang yung amount.

[ringostarr]

mura pa nga yan eh.

[empy]

ayush yan...kung pede SMG i would go for an MP5/10 variant

otherwise an HK Competition or Sig Sauer pistol

[tidus1203]

Buy the Abu Sayyaf's AK-47 Mga assassin's naka hand gun lang ikaw naka automatic ka na

[Altis6453]

I find nothing wrong with this. It's a loan, not a dole-out. The judges have the discretion on whether or not to avail of it (considering their take home pay, a lot of them will think very carefully). It just highlights the inability of our law enforcement personnel to: (i) protect those serving in the judiciary; and (ii) solve the murders of 15 judges since 1999.

[niky]

50,000 isn't exorbitant... it's just enough.

I'd say a good choice would be a mid-priced 9mm, like the Glock with an extender clip for more rounds. It doesn't have the stopping power of a .45, but it'll help keep the bad guys' heads down while the judge gets away or waits for back-up.

Actually, that money isn't enough... What the judges need is body armor and a security detail...

[ghosthunter]

body armor, and maybe a level 2 armored vehicle as well.

[niky]

body armor, and maybe a level 2 armored vehicle as well.

So... 750,000 pesos would be enough? :lol:

[mikey177]

Assuming you find a good gun for less than P50k, you'd still need the extra money to buy ammo so that you can practice regularly at the range.

A gun isn't an amulet that you just tuck in your clutch bag and voila, the bad guys won't be able to touch you. Just like any motor skill, one has to practice regularly with a firearm in order to become effective with it.

One round of reloaded 9mm ammo costs around P6, and a good range session will use up at least 50 round, so that's already P300 per practice. Eh maganda sana kung every week maka-practice ka, kaya sa isang buwan mahina na yung P1,200 na magagastos mo, bala pa lang yon.

As I've often heard, shooting is an expensive undertaking --but then again, the alternative (getting kidnapped, beaten up, raped or killed) is much more costly.

[mikey177]

Double post, nagloko Firefox ko --pa-delete na lang please, mods.

[Fozzie Bear]

Rather than spend money providing guns, the money (and everybody's comments so far) would be better channelled into ridding society of firearms.
Have you not looked across the Pacific and looked at the mess that 'freedom to bear arms' has cause in the U.S.?
Take a leaf out of Uk's book - ban firearms completely from public use - replicas too.
Make the country safe!
Rant over.

[ghosthunter]

Rather than spend money providing guns, the money (and everybody's comments so far) would be better channelled into ridding society of firearms.
Have you not looked across the Pacific and looked at the mess that 'freedom to bear arms' has cause in the U.S.?
Take a leaf out of Uk's book - ban firearms completely from public use - replicas too.
Make the country safe!
Rant over.

I would rather have a gun to protect myself than let crooks and other badguys have field day robbing my home, business and everywhere else since no one else has a gun to fend them off and the cops take forever to arrive to "protect" you.

UK isn't the best example, even their umbrella coverage of video security camera network has not helped to lower the crime rate there.

[Altis6453]

Ridding society of firearms would be a good idea if we were living in a utopian society where everyone follows the law, or are at least being deterred by the law's penal provisions. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that our police force is not effective in preventing violent crime (armed robbery, homicide, kidnapping, rape, etc.) from happening --- much less solving one which already occurred.

In fact, a lot of these crimes are now being perpetrated by PNP personel, if not ex-law enforcement personnel.

Capital punishment and long-term imprisonment has not stemmed the rise of these crimes against hapless citizens.

While I don't advocate turning Manila into the wild wild west of southeast asia, I do advocate taking personal responsiblity for one's safety and that of his family. This includes possessing a firearm and being able to use it to repel an unlawful aggressor if it becomes necessary to do so.

In the case of these judges, at their pay scale, they can't even afford to get a personal bodyguard or a bullet-proof vest. Face it, threats to their person have become an everyday fare due to the sensitivity and importance of certain cases they handle. If our government can't protect them, they surely deserve the opportunity to be able to defend themselves.

[niky]

Assuming you find a good gun for less than P50k, you'd still need the extra money to buy ammo so that you can practice regularly at the range.

A gun isn't an amulet that you just tuck in your clutch bag and voila, the bad guys won't be able to touch you. Just like any motor skill, one has to practice regularly with a firearm in order to become effective with it.

One round of reloaded 9mm ammo costs around P6, and a good range session will use up at least 50 round, so that's already P300 per practice. Eh maganda sana kung every week maka-practice ka, kaya sa isang buwan mahina na yung P1,200 na magagastos mo, bala pa lang yon.

As I've often heard, shooting is an expensive undertaking --but then again, the alternative (getting kidnapped, beaten up, raped or killed) is much more costly.

And you can't use reloads for self-defense. A lot of guns will jam on reloads, simply because of the extra variance in the shape of the casings.

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RE: gunless society: Only works if the police force is adequate to the task. Aside from first world countries with a very high standard of living, such as the UK, Japan and other European societies, you don't see this implemented in many places.

In fact, Canada itself is almost as heavily armed as the US (Michael Moore's documentary on this was pretty funny) but people there are very easy-going and less paranoid... and less likely to shoot at each other. I laughed at the part of Moore's film where he asked a policeman to recall when the last time a shooting occured. The shooter was from the US...

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Until our police forces become better equipped and better manned, there's just not enough protection for government employees like this, so a gun load allowance is perfectly acceptable.